Mumford & Sons, the popular British indie-folk ensemble that attracted 10,000 fans last
summer to the Lifestyle Communities Pavilion, will return to Ohio in a markedly different
setting.

Today, the band announced that it will perform Aug. 30-31 in Troy, about 80 miles west of
Columbus. It is one of only four North American “stopovers” on the quartet’s second “Gentlemen of
the Road” go-round.

Such shows, in essence, take over a small town and evoke a festival atmosphere, employing
multiple bands, venues and local food vendors.

“It’s only fair, really, to go out and play in some new territory,” Mumford singer and
multi-instrumentalist Ben Lovett told
The Dispatch this afternoon. “Troy looked like it was going to be the perfect sort of
layout, geographically.

“Working within the current framework of the town ... we’re going to be right in there
amongst it all.”

Lovett said the group — set to perform this Sunday at the Grammy Awards, where it clocked six
nominations — pored over hundreds of potential sites. Troy didn’t make the cut last year but was
picked for 2013.

Other North American stops on the latest route are Simcoe, Ontario; Guthrie, Okla.; and St.
Augustine, Fla.

Representatives of the Troy mayor’s office were unavailable to comment, but Miami County
Visitors and Convention Bureau executive director Diana Thompson confirmed the event.

“It is (Mumford’s) goal they select a community with a real hometown feel and also a small
community that would normally never have the opportunity to have an international band of this
magnitude,” said Thompson.

“It’s going to be certainly one of the largest things that will happen to this town.”

The visitors bureau, based in Troy, will hold a news conference at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday to
detail logistics and answer residents’ questions.

Camping will be offered for festival-goers, whose numbers are expected to reach 30,000,
Thompson said.

Troy has a population of 25,000.

The band, meanwhile, is bigger than ever.
Sigh No More, the 2 million-selling first disc, reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200 chart
and drew six Grammy nominations. A sophomore release,
Babel, made its debut in September at No. 1 — with first-week sales numbers eclipsing
those of Justin Bieber and Madonna.

The band was so popular during its most-recent Columbus visit that Lifestyle Communities
Pavilion moved the show to an adjacent parking lot to double the crowd capacity.

Troy Memorial Stadium (capacity: 10,000 in the stands, not including people on the field)
will host the Aug. 31 Mumford concert.

Other acts will be scattered across town, with Lovett hinting that the musicians often sit in
with other acts. Those acts are set to include Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Old Crow
Medicine Show and the Vaccines.